1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to floor care, and more specifically, to a floor care appliance having a filtration bag changing apparatus contained in the filtration compartment.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Floor care appliances are well known in the art. Typical floor care appliances include upright vacuum cleaners, canister vacuum cleaners, hard floor cleaners, and extractors. It is known to provide floor care appliances with a filtration bag for filtering and collecting dirt particles. Typically, when the filtration bag is full it is removed from the filtration housing and discarded. A new filtration bag is inserted in the filtration housing and connected to the suction duct. Several filtration bags are usually packaged and sold together.
It is known on the art to provide a suction cleaner with an automated means to replace the filtration bag. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,532,642, a suction cleaner has several filtration bags prepackaged in a box like container and loaded on a carriage in a magazine for ready installation in the filtration compartment of the suction cleaner. Once the current filtration bag is full, a filtration bag ejection button can be pressed to eject the full filtration bag and cause a new filtration bag to be installed. The new filtration bag is installed by a system of gears and levers which position the filtration bag into place followed by a blast of air which ejects the filtration bag from box the bag compartment and inflates it.
However, this system is quite cumbersome and requires many parts to operate. It would not fit into the filtration compartment of a typical floor care appliance such as an upright vacuum cleaner. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a less cumbersome and simple filtration bag changing apparatus that can be installed in the filtration compartment of a floor care appliance. The present invention fulfills this need by providing a filtration bag changing apparatus comprised of a continuous tube of filtration material packed into a dispensing container which sits on top of and feeds into the filtration compartment. The continuous tube supplies filtration material for a plurality of filtration bags before requiring replacement. The free end is initially sealed as supplied to form an initial volume wherein particles are filtered and collected. The opposite end of the tube is still packed into the dispensing container with the open end of the tube in fluid communication with the suction duct delivering dirt particles to the filtration compartment. Once the first portion of the tube containing the initial volume is full of dirt particles, the sealed end of the tube is pulled downward and out of the filtration compartment. At the same time, another portion of the tube is pulled into the filtration compartment. Once the appropriate amount of the tube is pulled into the filtration compartment and the full portion of the tube has exited the filtration compartment, a heat sealer seals the top of the full portion of the tube and the now open end at bottom of the remaining portion of the tube. A cutter then cuts the top end of the full portion of the tube or “old bag” from the bottom end of the remaining portion of the tube or the “new” bag. This process is repeated until the last filtration bag is pulled into place.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved floor care appliance having a filtration bag changing apparatus.
It is yet further an object of this invention to provide an improved floor care appliance having supply of filtration material for forming a plurality of filtration bags.
It is yet even further an object of this invention to provide an improved floor care appliance having a plurality of prepackaged filtration bags formed from a continuous tube.